The Gardeners' Apprentice COLCHICUM Good gardeners can’t be prudes. After all, sex happens all the time out there among the roses and lilies, and some plants display their private parts in the most scandalous ways. As I write this, bumblebees are committing random acts of pollination all over my asters, and the monarch butterflies appear to be … Read more
SWEET AUTUMN CLEMATIS What plant has had more names than a check forger, sometimes runs completely out of control and still makes regular appearances in respectable gardens everywhere? Sweet autumn clematis is the plant, and if America’s Most Wanted had a plant list, this fall bloomer would surely be on it. Sweet autumn … Read more
TWO GARDENS I am lucky enough to have two gardens. At home in New Jersey I grow hundreds of plants, a full compliment of weeds and a daily dose of satisfaction. My summer garden in central New York State is much smaller and less ambitious. I tend it for three weeks a year at most, … Read more
Gardening is dying. Reports of this sad phenomenon are all over the media. Not long ago, “The Avant Gardener,” a monthly horticultural newsletter, reported that lawn and garden material and equipment sales have been on the decline for several years. Publishers’ Weekly, the publishing industry bible, recently dedicated many pages to a feature on the … Read more
Even with the recent downturn in garden product sales, plants are still a multi-billion dollar business. We gardeners love plants–old plants, new plants, easy care plants, drought tolerant plants, shade loving plants and quirky plants. Some of us like to be the first in the neighborhood to install a new hybrid. Others want so many … Read more
